Nike are striving to solve a problem as quickly as possible. The US sportswear brand announced they have been reconsidering their wage policy, which also applies to their own suppliers, in order to prevent Uyghur forced labour. They made such statement about a week after the publication of an investigating survey, carried out by ASPI, an Australian think tank. The intelligence centre published a report over the employment of Uyghur forced labour (the Uighurs are a Muslim and Turkic minority living in China) in the supply chain of 83 brands worldwide.
To prevent Uyghur forced labour
As reported by The Washington Post, they found out that one of Nike’s most important footwear suppliers, a Chinese company under Korean ownership, is included in the list of the ones that employ Uyghur workers. “Nike are currently carrying out investigations, amongst China’s suppliers, to detect and assess any possible risks related to the employment of people coming from Xinjiang (which is the province Uighurs originate from, editor’s note)”, reported the daily newspaper. Furthermore, the brand, headquartered in Portland, asked their supplier to break the contracts, currently in force, with Uyghur employees.
The draft law
Meanwhile, they submitted, before the Parliament of the United States, a draft law, namely the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act. Such draft law, supported and endorsed both by Democratic and Republican representatives, urges US companies, which import goods from the province of Xinjiang, to certify the manufacturing process social sustainability. In other words, there must be some “clear and persuasive evidence” that the product is by no means the outcome of any forced labour exploitation.
Picture taken from ASPI report. Click here to read the document
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